


That's a Twist

by Rellanka



Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [37]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, And so is most everyone else, Angst and Feels, As only time travel can be, Cloud is very confused, Established Relationship, Flashbacks, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, POV Alternating, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24598654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rellanka/pseuds/Rellanka
Summary: Cloud has no idea why; but apparently he's Genesis's student now? Okay...?
Relationships: Genesis Rhapsodos/Cloud Strife
Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [37]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697269
Comments: 9
Kudos: 252





	That's a Twist

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing came from this quote prompt [here](https://oopsprompts.tumblr.com/post/189643720439/you-met-me-yesterday-yes-and-i-would-die-for).

“You met me _yesterday_.” Cloud said for what was far from the first time, still just as bewildered as he had been the first dozen times he’d said that. He felt very strongly like his world had been knocked off its axis, as if when he hadn’t been looking there had been a severe gravitational shift and it had somehow decided that all the old rules the world followed were boring and new rules should be chosen based on entertainment value added. Rules where it was normal for decorated Generals to burst into normal, unimportant trooper’s classes and yank them out with a blasé, ‘This one’s mine.’ while everyone else was too busy gaping to try to protest. 

Everyone else _including_ Cloud. 

He hadn’t even been able to even think of throwing off his shock until Genesis himself had finally stopped once they supposedly reached their destination, sitting Cloud down on a rather fancy couch in what appeared to be an equally fancy apartment. It was all dark wood and minimalist decorations, not much other than furniture and filled bookshelves in the room except for a painting of a beautiful, glowing woman hung above what looked like a fireplace, which… a fireplace, really? In the middle of Midgard? In the middle of Shinra headquarters?

Cloud was _possibly_ trying to distract himself from his own nervousness. But he hadn’t had much time to boggle over the simple things like his surroundings, because as soon as he noticed Cloud was coherent enough to start looking around, Genesis decided that he was also coherent enough for Genesis to reveal the plans he had for him; completely unconcerned with the way that Cloud was staring at him with a blank, uncomprehending gaze as Cloud waited for his brain to stop chasing random thoughts in his head around in circles. 

Said plans, Genesis explained, included the fact that Cloud was Genesis’s student now, already registered and stamped under official paperwork as receiving special pre-Soldier training from the Red General. Because apparently Genesis hadn’t needed Cloud’s knowledge or consent to get Cloud assigned to him as his new protégé. 

…why was Cloud surprised by that? He’d been in Shinra for two years now, and the more he stayed, the more he questioned if _staying_ was what he _should_ be doing. Instead of leaving the company however he could and not looking back once.

So really, he shouldn’t have been so surprised that Shinra was willing to throw him Genesis’s way like a master throwing scraps to a favored hound. One of the first thing troopers were warned of was that the higher ups really couldn’t give less a fuck about you until you made Soldier, and the chances of you making Soldier were slimmer than a troopers wallet. The harsh introduction to reality would probably seem cruel to outsiders but it was just about the kindest thing their instructors could do, breaking them free of false hopes straight off. Cloud had been angry the first time he’d been told it by his Sergeant. By his second week, he’d been glad that he’d been warned of what to expect. 

But he had never, ever expected something like this. 

He’d **dreamed** of something like this, sort of. Childish dreams where he suddenly amazed and awed the people around him. Dreams where Sephiroth would suddenly swoop in and declare that Cloud was so talented and amazing that he just had to have him as his student. Those dreams were ridiculous and arrogant, and Cloud was embarrassed over having them whenever he woke up. (Especially when the dreams verged into less children-friendly scenarios and more into low-budget Honeybee flicks, usually with Sephiroth _instructing_ Cloud while his student was bent over something. Or kneeling.

…But the less said about those, the better.)

The point to the dreams was that when Genesis had packed a dazed and confused back to his dorms with a muttered comment that they would find better accommodations for him later, Cloud had been sure that it had all been a dream. Had been certain that he would wake up to the world returned back to normal. 

It hadn’t. Instead he’d woken up to his Sergeant jostling his shoulder- jostling his shoulder, rather than flipping him out of bed!- and telling him tersely that if he didn’t leave right then he would be late for his training with the General. 

Cloud didn’t even know how he’d managed to stumble out of bed and dress himself with a mind blank and fingers numb with shock. But he had. 

And now here he was, in Training Room 5, staring back at a man he wasn’t totally convinced hadn’t simply gone completely insane as the man himself replied to his bewildered statement with a dismissive, “Yes, and I would die for you. Move on to the next question, Strife.” 

“Of course, sir.” Cloud mumbled, not knowing how the hell he should reply to that. Was the First being sarcastic? Or would he die for all his subordinates? If that wasn’t it there was no realistic way that Genesis had actually just said that. Not to some lowly cadet that he’d never deigned to know the existence of before. 

Right. Well. Maybe this was just a really long, really odd, really realistic dream? It wasn’t bad enough to be a nightmare, but… (A small voice in the back of his head said that if Cloud was lucky, it might even be one with a Honeybee twist.)

Cloud’s face instantly burned red as he shook his head in an attempt to shake off the thought. Gods above, the last thing he needed to be thinking of right now, with the Red General standing **right in front of him.**

The Red General who was currently eyeing him with crossed arms and an unimpressed air. 

“Strife, while I like to think I’ve been fairly patient with your little mental breakdowns, the amount of time I am willing to **continue** being patient grows short. Shake it off, or go report back to your Sergeant until you’re no longer acting like a silent, shaking, dazed little calf I just yanked from its mother.” 

Cloud straightened at this, his pride hurting a bit. “If this is how you treat the people you would die for, then I wonder if the rumors about you having feelings for Sephiroth are truer than most people think.” Everyone knew that the two friends fought like cats and dogs more often than not.

It was probably the wrong thing to say Cloud noted, as Genesis’s eyes darkened even as a false-looking amusement rose the corners of his lips. “So you do have some personality. Good. But considering that those rumors are both unfounded and untrue, I believe that this calls for fifty laps for sass and repeating baseless gossip, cadet.” 

Smart enough to know that he’d gone a bit too far, Cloud bit his tongue and didn’t argue, going to walk closer to the wall to begin when Genesis stopped him. 

“With this strapped to your back.” The man said, holding out both a magnetic holster and a rather large greatsword. Cloud stopped dead to accept the holster, eyeing the sword a little nervously as he strapped it on. It looked huge, about as big as Cloud was himself. Was Cloud actually going to be expected to run with _that?_

Apparently so. Genesis gestured for him to turn when he was done, and Cloud did, anticipation causing him to stand stiff as Genesis pressed the sword against the magnet and it connected with a soft clank. 

When Genesis let go, it was both better and worse than he’d thought it would be. So heavy that Cloud thought he was going to fall over backward at first at the added weight, unfamiliar and destabilizing. It took him a few seconds to regain his balance with it there. But he did, eventually, and that was the better than his expectations part. 

When Cloud risked a glance back at Genesis, he noticed the man watching him closely. Their eyes met, and whatever the General was felling, Cloud wasn’t able to catch it before his face was wiped clear of any emotion.

“And so your training begins, kitten. Fifty laps. 10 more each for every additional second you waste. Starting now.” The man said as he stepped back from him. 

Fuck. 

And with that, Cloud began to run. 

***

Genesis was glad for the reprieve Cloud’s ‘punishment’ had given him. A moment of peace where those confused, uncertain (beautiful) blue eyes weren’t desperately staring into his own, trying to find answers to questions that Cloud was not yet brave enough to voice. 

A moment of peace to collect himself. 

A moment of peace to remember. 

***

_Genesis clenched his hands into fists, shaking from the amount of fear, desperation, and **rage** coursing through his blood. _

_“No.” He snapped with all the vehemence in his soul. “No. I’m not going back without you. I’m not leaving you alone to face **him**.” _

_Him. Sephiroth. The man that was once something like a friend, but was now a man Genesis despised more than anything else he ever had before. Or ever would again._

_He wouldn’t let his beloved face that monster alone. He would. Not. He would drag Cloud with him by his lovely locks if he had to-_

_“Genesis.” Cloud himself said, breaking through the man’s wild, have-formed plans, “It’s too risky. You know that, and so does the Planet. If I go back, the connection Sephiroth has with me… he could use it to go back, too. And if he goes back, the Planet goes to hell before we can even start trying to looking out for the handbasket.”_

_Genesis didn’t laugh. He didn’t feel even close to laughing at the moment. (If he lost Cloud, here, now, would he ever feel like it again?)_

_“No.” Genesis said, hopelessly, stubbornly, unwilling to face what he knew was going to happen, what **had** to happen for the Planet to survive. _

_Cloud just looked at him, and smiled softly, sadly, obviously mourning for what they were about to lose and allowing Genesis to see it. He knew that Genesis **would** see it, just as Cloud saw Genesis’s words for what they were. A denial, a helpless denial, a childish attempt to will the world into what he wanted it to be, and not what it actually was. A denial that would not stop Genesis from doing what he had to, when the time truly came. _

_“Hey.” Cloud said softly, reaching out to grasp one of Genesis’s hands and squeeze it tightly, “Make me a promise? When you go back, find me. Help me become strong. Make it so that I can fight by your side once more. I think, even if things don’t go perfectly… that would make it worth it. Being able to spend time with you will always make things like this worth it; no matter who that ‘me’ spending time with you might be.”_

_Genesis’s heart both lurched and tore at the thought of not losing Cloud forever, of being able to keep a piece of him by his side; and at the agony of the thought of having a Cloud at his side that wasn’t **his** Cloud, wasn’t the Cloud in front of him that knew him to the deepest depths of his soul. That knew him well enough that he knew how desperately Genesis would need this; would need a part of Cloud to clutch close and safe to have the strength to make it through this mission. _

_“What if he doesn’t agree?” Genesis asked. It was a weak attempt at protesting, but also a vocalization of a worry. If the Cloud he saw when he went back **didn’t** agree to let Genesis help him, the man didn’t know what he’d do. Stalk the young Cloud, probably. _

_“Pretty sure you’re stubborn enough to find a way to make him agree, eventually.” Cloud said dryly in return._

_“That would require out-stubborning **you** , you do realize? Hardly a simple task.” Genesis said in reply with a ghost of humor in his voice._

_Cloud huffed at the insult, and then immediately drew close, tucking himself into Genesis chest with one arm wrapped around Genesis waist, relaxing into Genesis’s embrace when the man’s arms rose up to wrap tightly around him._

_“You know, don’t you? That no matter which version of me it is, I’m yours? I’ll always be yours, I’ll always **chose** to be yours. It’s just a matter of waiting until I realize that.” Cloud whispered softly into Genesis’s chest. _

_Genesis pressed a soft kiss to the top of that precious, precious head._

_“I know.” He said softly._

_And he did. But that didn’t mean that the waiting for the Cloud of the past to reach that point would be agonizing. That losing this Cloud, the one he’d spent decades with, wouldn’t destroy every piece of Genesis, leaving him only able to offer the past Cloud ashes and shreds of a man that was once whole._

_“I love you.” Cloud said softly._

_“I would die for you.” Genesis said, as he had the first time he told Cloud that he loved him, “A thousand times and more.”_

_He wished that was the plan now. Leaving Cloud would be infinitely more painful than dying. But for Cloud he would bear the pain._

_For Cloud, he had and he would, always, do anything._

_And so, instead of dying, Genesis had done what he had to do._

***

This Cloud wasn’t nearly ready to face the struggles that were going to be thrown at him, Genesis observed.

He would be, with time. Genesis was sure of it. Just as he was sure that someday- someday **soon** if Genesis had anything to do with it (and he did)- Cloud would be able to run miles upon miles with a sword like Hard Edge strapped to his back without faltering once. Not like the Cloud in front of him was already doing, barely 10 laps in.

Those things were learned and gained with experience. Experience and mako. 

Genesis’s Cloud had had them. 

Genesis’s Cloud had had far too much of them, truly. 

At the thought of why that had been true, Genesis fists clenched, and a strong, almost overwhelming desire to sweep Cloud into his arms and get him as far away as possible bolted through him like lighting. He wanted, he so _badly_ wanted to keep Cloud safe from all of the bad things to come. 

But to do so would ensure the Planet’s destruction, and Cloud would never forgive him that. 

It had been made very clear to Genesis by the Planet that some things would have to remain. Genesis could interfere in some things; could change things just enough that at least some of the tragedies didn’t have to happen, and the ones that did Cloud wouldn’t face alone. But he couldn’t change everything.

Cloud would still have to gain the strength Genesis knew him capable of, the very same strength that had allowed him to kill Sephiroth again, and again, and again. The strength that let him strike the monster down, even as that monsters obsession with Cloud grew greater with every failed battle, with every time that Cloud refused to bow to his will. But the connection the two had had with their shared cells would never exist here. If Genesis had to administer the shots himself to ensure that no trace of Sephiroth’s cells made it into Cloud’s blood to ensure that, he would. It would kill him to hurt his love like that, but he would. 

It’d been that connection that had allowed Sephiroth to call Cloud to face him, time and time again. That same connection hadn’t been all the reason for Sephiroth’s obsession with Cloud; but it had been a part of it. 

And Genesis…

He couldn’t stand there again, frozen and helpless, watching as Cloud bled out but still fought to keep Sephiroth away from where Genesis stood. From where the Planet was steadily gathering power around Genesis, readying itself to send him **back**. 

He couldn’t watch Cloud die for him.

Not again. Not _ever_ again.

He’d vowed that, even as he felt himself travelling to a time where the fight couldn’t reach him.

Back to where the Lifestream was wounded but not corrupted. Back to where they still had hope to stop the end of all things before it started. 

Back to where a young Cloud looked at Genesis with eyes that were new, and bright, and not yet so haunted by the ghost of old tragedies. 

Back, as if Genesis had any real idea as to what he should be doing. 

He may have been given this duty by the Goddess herself, but beyond some loosely formed ideas Genesis didn’t really have a clue about where to go from here. He didn’t know if he would succeed in saving the Lifestream from corruption. He didn’t know if he would be successful in stopping the end. 

He knew only one thing: he would protect this Cloud, this bright, fragile, precious thing, for as long as he could. He would protect him with everything he was. 

He wouldn’t lose this Cloud as he’d lost his own, even if it took him dying to prevent that. 

He just hoped that he was able to help this Cloud become the hero Genesis knew him to be before that came to pass.

**Author's Note:**

> Implied but not outright stated is that this is before when Genesis started degrading but that the Planet preemptively healed his cells so he won't start degrading at all this time. I'm going back and forth whether or not Genesis also has a cure for Angeal or whether I'll continue this fic later exploring the possibility where Angeal still faces degradation. We'll see. 
> 
> Obviously he and this Cloud aren't in a relationship (yet) due to age and other factors, but this Cloud is aged up a bit from what he'd be in canon during this time. Young Cloud is 16 in this fic.


End file.
